Juventus soar on Ronaldo’s double
Milan, Jan. 4: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as champions Juventus bounced back from their first Italian league defeat of the season by beating Udinese 4-1 on Sunday to move up to fifth place.
The Milan clubs are top of the Italian league with Juventus 10 points adrift of the summit having played a game less.
Leaders AC Milan stayed one point ahead of Inter with a 2-0 win over midtable Benevento despite playing an hour a man down.
City rivals Inter crushed lowly Crotone 6-2 with Lautaro Martinez bagging his first hat-trick for the club.
But Milan restored their advantage thanks to a Franck Kessie penalty on 15 minutes and Rafael Leao’s terrific curling strike from a tight angle shortly after half-time.
Sandro Tonali’s sending off after 33 minutes for a high tackle on Artur Ionita did not hold back Stefano Pioli’s side.
Gianluigi Donnarumma was solid in the Milan goal while Gianluca Caprari dragged a penalty wide on the hour.
Ronaldo once again proved decisive for Juventus scoring a goal in each half to bring his league-leading tally to 14 this campaign and teeing up Federico Chiesa after the break. Paulo Dybala added the fourth deep into injury time as Andrea Pirlo’s side moved on from their shock 3-0 loss to Fiorentina last time out.
At the San Siro, Martinez and Romelu Lukaku combined to devastating effect for Inter who have now won eight league games in a row. The strike duo were involved in five goals although Arturo Vidal was hauled off at half-time after conceding a penalty in a woeful display. —